


When You Close Your Eyes

by asexualjuliet



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Nightmares, jonathan is a good brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 21:10:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20607371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualjuliet/pseuds/asexualjuliet
Summary: Some nights, Will can’t sleep.Some nights, it's all too much.Some nights, he’s plagued with nightmare after nightmare, dreams that leave him shaking, terrified, and very much awake.Some nights, he can’t take it.





	When You Close Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I just love Jonathan being a good older brother to Will.
> 
> Title from Pompeii by Bastille.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Some nights, Will can’t sleep. 

Some nights, it's all too much. 

Some nights, he’s plagued with nightmare after nightmare, dreams that leave him shaking, terrified, and very much awake.

Some nights, he can’t take it. 

He gets up slowly, wrapping himself in the blanket his mother knitted for him when he was little, and makes his way to Jonathan’s room. 

The door’s closed, so Will opens it. “Jonathan?” he whispers, voice breaking. 

And then he stops, because Jonathan’s not the only one in his room. 

Will’s eyes go wide as he sees Nancy Wheeler in his brother’s bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and sitting up. 

“Will?” she asks quietly, blushing. “Are you okay?”

(Will tries to ignore the fact that she’s wearing one of Jonathan’s t-shirts).

“I need Jonathan,” he says, voice wavering. 

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Nancy murmurs after a second, before shaking Jonathan’s shoulder lightly. “Jonathan?”

His eyes flit open and he sits up. “Nance, what?”

Nancy nods wordlessly at Will, shaking and scared in the doorway. Jonathan curses quietly under his breath before getting up to wrap an arm around Will. 

They’ve started walking back to Will’s room before either one of them says a word. 

“Was it another nightmare?” Jonathan asks softly, wiping away the tears that have started to fall down Will’s face. 

Will just nods as Jonathan tucks him into bed. 

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

Will shakes his head. 

“Buddy, if you’re not gonna talk to me, I don’t know what I can do.”

“I had a nightmare. I was scared, it—it was stupid, I don’t—”

“It’s not stupid,” Jonathan cuts him off gently. “You’ve been through a lot of shit, you’re allowed to be scared.”

Will swallows. “I didn’t know Nancy was here.”

“Shit, is that what’s bothering you? That she had to see you like this?”

Will nods through the tears that have started to roll down his face. 

He looks so sad. So fucking sad and scared and small. 

“She doesn’t care, Will,” Jonathan murmurs. “She just wants you to be okay.”

“I don’t want her to know—” He’s cut off by a sob, and Jonathan holds him tight. 

“That you have nightmares?” Jonathan finishes for him, and Will nods, still crying. 

“We all have them, Will,” Jonathan whispers, and Will just sobs louder. 

“Hey, shh, shh, you’re okay, I promise...”

Will’s sobs calm down after a few seconds, but the tears are still coming when he whispers, “It’s just hard.”

“I know,” Jonathan mumbles, and Will buries his face in Jonathan’s t-shirt, hugging him so tight that Jonathan half-wonders if Will’s afraid he’ll leave him to go sleep with Nancy. 

So Jonathan hugs back even tighter. 

There’s a soft presence outside the door, and Nancy Wheeler gives him a little wave before pointing to the glass of water in her hand. _ For Will? _ She mouths, and Jonathan gives a small nod and a _ thank you. _

Will still buried in Jonathan’s chest, Nancy creeps into the room as silently as she can to set the glass down on Will’s nightstand before leaving to go back to Jonathan’s room. 

“Hey, c’mere,” Jonathan says softly, when it seems to him that Will’s crying has ceased. 

Will’s eyes are puffy when he sits up, and he starts to rub at them before Jonathan gently takes his hands. 

“Don’t do that, c’mon,” he says before handing Will the glass of water Nancy had left on the nightstand. 

Will sniffles before taking a few sips and handing the glass back to Jonathan. 

“‘M sorry,” Will mumbles. “I wouldn’t have bothered you if I knew Nancy was here.”

“Hey, stop that,” Jonathan says. “I’m the one who snuck a girl into my room. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Will smiles. 

“You should try and sleep,” Jonathan says, getting up and tucking Will in. “Do you want me to stay?”

Will start to say something, then stops. “I-If you don’t mind.”

“Course not,” Jonathan says, sitting down in the chair by Will’s bedside and holding out his hand. Will takes it. 

“Thank you,” he mumbles. 

“I love you,” Jonathan reminds him as he closes his eyes. 

“Love you, too,” Will says. 

He drifts off after a while, and Jonathan doesn’t know how long it’s been when there’s a barely audible knock at the door. He motions for Nancy to come in, and she sits beside him. 

“You’re so good at this,” she comments quietly, gesturing at Jonathan’s hand in Will’s. 

“I have to be,” Jonathan replies, looking her in the eye with a sad smile. 

Nancy wraps him in a hug and pecks him on the cheek. Jonathan blushes. 

“_Nance,_” he murmurs, fighting the smile that comes over his face. 

“Stay with him as long as you want, okay?” Nancy asks, getting up and making her way out the door. “I love you.”

Jonathan’s face goes even redder. “I love you, too.”

He glances at Will’s hand in his, and though Will can’t hear him, he whispers, “I’ll always be here, okay?”

He hopes it’s enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> All mistakes are my own, please don’t hesitate to point them out!
> 
> Kudos/Comments are much appreciated!!


End file.
